The Ascension Pit was quickly surrounded. Ten guards, led by a Captain wearing gold armor.
Captain Luo (Human Immortal - Late Stage).
"An Ascender killed a guard?" Captain Luo looked down into the pit with disdain. "It has been a hundred years since we had a unruly one."
He raised his hand.
"Formation: Gravity Press."
The runes around the pit flared. The gravity, already 500x normal, doubled. Then tripled.
Mo Tian fell to one knee. The stone floor cracked under him.
"Kneel," Captain Luo commanded. "You are a worm. Know your place."
Mo Tian struggled to breathe. His bones creaked. This was the power of an established Immortal using the environment against him.
"System," Mo Tian gritted his teeth. "I need a boost."
[Option: Burn 'Divine Transformation' reserves to temporarily match local laws.] [Warning: This will deplete your Lower World energy completely.]
"Do it."
WHOOSH.
A black fire erupted from Mo Tian. He burned the energy he had stolen from Ye Chen and the Avatar.
The gravity pressure lightened.
Mo Tian stood up.
"I don't kneel," Mo Tian looked up, his eyes burning purple. "Not to a glorified miner."
He jumped.
He shot out of the pit like a cannonball, landing directly in front of Captain Luo.
"Horizon Sword: Immortal Cut."
He drew the Heaven-Splitter. The sword, reacting to the higher realm, shed its rusted outer layer, revealing a core of pure Void Metal.
Captain Luo drew his saber. "Fool!"
CLANG.
Sword met Saber.
The shockwave leveled the small reception building.
Captain Luo was pushed back three steps. He stared at his saber. It had a chip in it.
"A Heaven-Rank Artifact?" Luo's eyes turned greedy. "An Ascender with treasure! Good! I will take your head and your sword!"
"Immortal Art: Golden Mountain Press!"
A giant phantom of a golden mountain appeared above Luo's head, smashing down toward Mo Tian.
Mo Tian didn't block. He realized he couldn't overpower a Late Stage Human Immortal with brute force yet.
He needed to cheat.
"Reality Glitch (Minor)."
Mo Tian flickered.
The mountain crushed his afterimage.
Mo Tian appeared behind Luo.
"Dao Plunder."
He didn't stab. He jammed his hand into the back of Luo's armor, directly touching the spine.
"System! Eat the Law!"
[Target: Golden Law Fragment.] [Extracting...]
Luo screamed. It felt like his understanding of the universe was being ripped out of his brain with fishhooks.
"What are you doing to my Dao?!" Luo shrieked, his aura destabilizing.
"I'm learning," Mo Tian whispered.
He ripped his hand back. A small, golden orb of light was in his palm.
Luo collapsed, vomiting blood. Without his Law, his cultivation was hollow. He was just a bag of strong meat.
Mo Tian crushed the orb and inhaled it.
[Acquired: Law of Gold (Basic).] [Understanding of Upper Realm Physics: Updated.]
Mo Tian swung the Heaven-Splitter.
Snick.
Captain Luo's head rolled.
The other guards froze. Their Captain, a veteran of the Immortal Wars, was dead in ten seconds.
Mo Tian stood over the corpse. He breathed in the bloody mist.
"Now," Mo Tian turned to the terrified guards. "Who wants to show me to the mines? I hear there are stones to be collected."